A brilliant all-round display from North Queensland half-back Johnathan Thurston propelled his side to a massive 43-6 win over the Roosters in their round two National Rugby League (NRL) encounter in Townsville on Saturday night.

Thurston scored two tries, set up two more and landed six goals from as many attempts as the Cowboys ran in seven tries to one in front of a capacity home crowd to keep the Roosters winless after two starts.

The home side shot out of the blocks early, piling on three tries inside 20 minutes to lead 18-6 at half-time before going on with the job in the second period.

Winger Brenton Bowen had a double by the ninth minute and Thurston scored a superb individual try in the 19th minute to have the Roosters on the ropes early.

Both of Bowen's tries were engineered by veteran five-eighth Jason Smith, who delivered a perfectly-weighted crossfield chip into the right corner to set up the first and seven minutes later started a movement down the right wing that was finished by Bowen with a superb cut-out pass.

The Roosters struck back nine minutes from the half-time siren with a four-pointer to Lopini Paea but were held scoreless in the second half as the Cowboys defence muscled up while the attack ran roughshod.

Matt Bowen joined his cousin with a double in the second half, the second of which was a typically flashy effort in the final two minutes where he fumbled the ball, kicked it on the way down to the ground and beat the Roosters defence to touch down over the tryline.

Second-rower Luke O'Donnell also bagged a four-pointer and the match was finished with a field goal to hooker Aaron Payne seconds before the final siren.